Medical marijuana advocates sue Los Angeles

[marmar]

from the LA Times:



Medical marijuana advocates sue Los Angeles
Plaintiffs say the city's new ordinance, which hasn't yet taken effect, is too restrictive and violates California law. They seek a court injunction and restraining order to stop it from being enforced.

By Tony Barboza

March 3, 2010


Medical marijuana advocates upped the ante in the legal battle over Los Angeles' pot dispensaries by suing the city Tuesday, saying the recently adopted ordinance is so restrictive it will cause even law-abiding businesses to shut down.

Americans for Safe Access, the nation's main medical marijuana advocacy nonprofit group, filed the lawsuit along with the Venice Beach Care Center and Pure Life Alternative Wellness Center, two dispensaries that have operated in Los Angeles since 2006 -- before the city's moratorium on dispensaries took effect.

The 11-page suit filed in L.A. County Superior Court says the sweeping marijuana ordinance passed by the City Council in January and signed into law by the mayor Feb. 3 "severely restricts access to medical marijuana by effectively forcing plaintiffs, as well as the vast majority of collectives in the city, to close their doors."

The law won't take effect until the council approves registration fees that dispensaries must pay. City officials are still working to determine what the fees will be.

The suit alleges that the ordinance violates state law, and the plaintiffs seek a court injunction and restraining order to stop it from being enforced. Dispensary operators object to the "onerous restrictions" of the law, such as a rule giving them only seven days after the ordinance takes effect to relocate to 1,000 feet away from schools, parks and places of worship but does not provide maps to show where they can operate. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-medical-marijuana3-2010mar03,0,3839214.story

[Royal Sloan 09]

1. K & R, Solution = Legalize, eom

[Uncle Joe]

2. I wonder if pharmacies face these same restrictions?

"The suit alleges that the ordinance violates state law, and the plaintiffs seek a court injunction and restraining order to stop it from being enforced. Dispensary operators object to the "onerous restrictions" of the law, such as a rule giving them only seven days after the ordinance takes effect to relocate to 1,000 feet away from schools, parks and places of worship but does not provide maps to show where they can operate."

Thanks for the thread, marmar.

[villager]

3. Good.

n/t

[pleah]

4. K&R

[tridim]

5. A preview of events to come in Colorado.

We're getting jerked around here too.

[Trillo]

6. Patients just need their medication.

It's been recommended by their doctors.

People would get all in a twist if every pharmacy, including online and mail order were shut down.

[Mike K]

7. Medical Marijuana was recently approved in New Jersey -

- which I never expected and was totally surprised (amazed) by, owing to the puritanically prohibitive nature of this state, but it will take nine months before the rules and logistics of dispensing are established. So far I've heard there will be only six dispensaries permitted in the entire state, meaning that some who are suffering the agonies of terminal cancer and other cripplingly painful afflictions will be forced to travel in excess of a hundred miles or more, one way, to obtain the maximum quantity of two ounces a month.

By the time the anti-pleasure gremlins, who undoubtedly will lose sleep at the thought that some will be receiving legal weed just to get high, finalize the dispensing guidelines it is likely that physicians will be afraid to prescribe marijuana to anyone who isn't delirious with pain and/or bleeding from the rectum and the ears.

But -- it's a step. And I'm glad the state's legislators have finally acknowledged that sanity where this relatively benign substance is concerned is long overdue.